Northern Advocate
  • Northern Advocate home
  • Latest news
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Sport
  • Property
  • Video
  • Death notices
  • Classifieds

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • On The Up
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
  • Sport
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Residential property listings

Locations

  • Far North
  • Kaitaia
  • Kaikohe
  • Bay of Islands
  • Whangārei
  • Kaipara
  • Mangawhai
  • Dargaville

Media

  • Video
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-Editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

Weather

  • Kaitaia
  • Whangārei
  • Dargaville

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Northern Advocate

Whangarei District Council looking to drop 'council' from name in $171,000 rebrand

Danica MacLean
By Danica MacLean
Multimedia Journalist, Newstalk ZB·Northern Advocate·
19 Apr, 2018 08:00 PM4 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save
    Share this article
Whangarei District Council hopes a new logo and rebranding will help improve it's relationship with the public. Photo/Tania Whyte

Whangarei District Council hopes a new logo and rebranding will help improve it's relationship with the public. Photo/Tania Whyte

Whangarei District Council is looking to rebrand itself to forge a better relationship with the public - with two thirds of people not knowing what the council does - in an exercise that will cost $171,000 over two years.

The rebrand may include taking the "council" out of Whangarei District Council.

The move would include a new logo and adding "Whangarei District" to a number of council associated brands such as "Love it Here" and City Safe.

Big Fish Creative is tasked with the job, and made a presentation to councillors in a council briefing earlier this month.

The Whangarei company consulted key stakeholders and the public on their perceptions of the council with 314 people responding to an online survey between January 31 and February 9 this year.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

The survey found two thirds of the people couldn't recall what the council was responsible for; almost half feel out of touch with the council and just over half believe the council spends well.

It also found doing "the good" is three times more important to the public than the council performing its legislative and legal functions.

The presentation included a possible new logo - "council" is dropped and "Whangarei District" is changed to lower case, with a macron added to Whangarei.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

A Maori translation is planned to go underneath, and a new image would go above. The image would be inspired by the origins of Whangarei.

The presentation included various possible designs, inspired by the Poor Knights lily, Mount Manaia and Reipae and Reitu - twin sisters from the Waikato whose lives intertwined with the story of Whangarei.

Big Fish Creative's Tristan Tuckey said Mt Manaia didn't translate into a stylised design well. It was one of the Reipae and Reitu designs which had the most focus at the meeting.

Councillors all gave their feedback about parts they did and didn't like.

Discover more

New Zealand

Councillor Stuart Bell resigns six months before election

02 Apr 04:00 PM

Whangārei hapu want more say in council decision making

17 Jul 01:00 AM

Council CEO Rob Forlong said the re-brand would cost $171,000 which had already been budgeted for the in the Long Term Plan - it is not just for a new logo, but "a strategic branding direction across approximately 40 sub-brands and a multitude of services".

Forlong said the council will replace signs, stationery, car branding etc when they run or wear out and so, operationally, it will cost what the council already spends.

He said the council had been changing the way it does things over the past three years and it wants a better relationship with the community it serves and is part of.

The Loop, Fritter Festival and providing clean water, waste disposal and safe roads are examples of things the council does that people tend to be happy with.

However, people are not so pleased with council activities like making sure people contribute what they should (rates, fees, fines), that they don't harm the environment, dog control and building consents.

"Over time that has generated a bit of a 'them and us' view of council, skewed towards the negative. That doesn't help any of us to do a good job working together, on the same team," Forlong said.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

He said times are changing, the council and the community are changing and the new brand represents that change.

The presentation was also made to Te Karearea - the strategic partnership forum between Whangarei hapu and the council - on Wednesday morning to get further feedback.

Forlong said councillors are now talking with their communities and the council is putting information up on it's website and facebook page.

"The process from here will involve refinement of the design and a formal council process for its adoption, hopefully before 1 July. In the meantime, we are happy for people to tell us what they think through these informal processes over the next couple of weeks."

The council hopes to launch the new logo on July 1, to start the new financial year. The legal entity of Whangarei District Council would remain.

The current logo was adopted in 1989 when the Whangarei City, Whangarei County and Hikurangi Town Councils merged.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

How dropping the word "council" would work:

The way staff and the public would refer to the council would change as part of the rebrand. Staff would say they worked for the Whangarei District, for example "I'm the consents manager for the Whangarei District".

The mayor would be referred to as Whangarei District Mayor Sheryl Mai. It is yet to be decided whether councillors would still be referred to as councillors or elected leaders.

Save
    Share this article

Latest from Northern Advocate

Northern Advocate

'You can kill me': Identical twins on trial for brutal home assault and threats

Northern Advocate

Northland special economic zone

Watch
Northern Advocate

Thinking big: Plans to boost Northland with a special economic zone


Sponsored

Revealed: The night driving ‘red flag’

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Northern Advocate

'You can kill me': Identical twins on trial for brutal home assault and threats
Northern Advocate

'You can kill me': Identical twins on trial for brutal home assault and threats

The attack allegedly involved beating the victim for three hours.

05 Aug 07:00 AM
Northland special economic zone
Northern Advocate

Northland special economic zone

Watch
05 Aug 03:12 AM
Thinking big: Plans to boost Northland with a special economic zone
Northern Advocate

Thinking big: Plans to boost Northland with a special economic zone

05 Aug 02:47 AM


Revealed: The night driving ‘red flag’
Sponsored

Revealed: The night driving ‘red flag’

04 Aug 11:37 PM
NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • The Northern Advocate e-edition
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Subscribe to the Northern Advocate
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • The Northern Advocate
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP